September 16, 2011

 

 

Despite high prices in June and July, costs of food in Vietnam are falling as supply began to increase due to importation.

 

Trung, who runs a pig farm with 1,200 animals in the southern province of Dong Nai, said prices of pigs dropped from US$2.69 a kilogram to US$2.40 this week.

 

Pork prices went down to US$0.19 a kilogram. Poultry prices slumped to below cost prices, selling for around US$1.49 a kilogram, while farmers said their costs came to US$1.73.

 

Pig traders said supply has increased following a sharp fall in consumption last month.

 

Pig farms have recovered from the blue-ear pig disease outbreaks of last year.

 

Since farms in the northern region have recovered from the disease, they no longer source pigs from the south.

 

In June, the northern region had suffered a severe shortage since farms there were more severely affected by the epidemic than those in the south, encouraging many southern traders dispatched large quantities of meat there and making food prices in the southern region rise sharply.

 

Food companies also attributed the current slump in pig and poultry prices to the steep rise in import of frozen meats.

 

While the average import in the first half of the year was only 4,000 tonnes a month, it had shot up to 14,000 tonnes and 12,000 tonnes of frozen meats in July and August.